Monday, 3 September 2012

Best Cinnamon Buns

Blogging is now a post Sunday thing for me and subsequently, baking has also become a Sunday must-do in the Hassan household. We all like to get together,and this one was definitely a team effort. My favourite part of the team baking had to be when making the icing for the rolls. Best friend Shannon was whisking away when best mum Zehra said "that look's like something I've seen before' - I put it down to menopausal hormones. Drizzling it over the bun with a fork afterwards was literally the icing on the metaphorical bun.

More appropriately, I always dreaded the thought of baking buns or rolls or bread type balls, in my head I mentally put it in the same category as puff pastry - a place no amateur should go! But these were simple.Time consuming-ly simple! My favourite part in the baking was gently shoving my hand into the warm proved dough - a fetish I and probably loads of you out there can proudly admit!

I had two go's at the bun making, as the recipe makes approximately a life time supply of buns, I made one batch yesterday afternoon and one today. Texture wise, the refrigerated dough was more dough-y.

Now onto taste (this deserves its own little paragraph), completely and utterly irresistibly deliciously unbelievably the best homemade cinnamon roll I have EVER tasted. Don't let the fact that this was my first homemade C.Roll put you off, either. I've still tried tons of them, and I will gladly give anyone £500 who doesn't agree with me. Any genuine takers?
Shannon admiring the Cinnamon Roll icing
Recipe adapted from The Pioneer Woman Cinnamon Roll 101 
For the Dough:
1 cup caster sugar
1 pint whole milk
1 cup vegetable oil
9 cups plain flour flour 
1 heaped tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp salt
14g active dry yeast (2 packs)
For the Filling:
1 jar of ground cinnamon (optional amount)
2 cups sugar (optional amount)
Loads of melted butter/220g (optional amount)
For the Icing:
500g icing sugar
100ml+ whole milk
1 tsp vanilla extract (optional)
WARNING: makes A LOT of rolls! 

The Method:
  • Start by preparing yourself for the mind blowing taste experience that's about to happen and then get a deep saucepan and fill it with milk, oil and sugar.
  • Heat the saucepan on medium, until the mixture has just reached boiling point and then remove off heat and set aside until it is luke-warm. 
  • Sprinkle all of the yeast on top of the lukewarm mixture and leave to do its thing for just 1 minute. 
  • After that, plop in 8 cups of the flour, the bicarb, baking P and salt and mix till well incorporated. 
  • Cover with a clean paper towel and leave to prove for at least 1 hour. The dough will keep for a couple of days.
  • Once the dough has proved, take half of it and place on a clean surface. With flour at hand, begin to roll into a large, thin rectangular shape. Now is also the right time to preheat the oven to 204 degrees C.
  • Take your melted butter and smooth all over the rolled dough till there are no surfaces left to cover. 
  • Now sprinkle a cup of the sugar all over the butter (the extra cup is for the other half of the dough).
  • Now sprinkle sprinkle sprinkle on that cinnamon until it looks like a brown carpet. 
  • Take the long end of the dough and start to tightly roll the dough towards or away from you, roll gently until you have something that looks like an off white snake. 
  • Take a sharp knife and cut each roll one inch thick. 
  • Place in greased foil trays or a large greased tin and squidge the rolls closely together. 
  • Bake for 16/17 minutes. Whilst baking, prepare the icing by whisking milk into the icing sugar until you reach a desired consistency, 2 tablespoons usually does the trick.
  • Take the rolls out of the oven and drizzle on the icing with the end of your whisk whilst the rolls are still warm. Take a look at the photo methods below for extra inspiration!
Cinnamon Roll Method
Cinnamon Roll Method
Cinnamon Roll Method
Cinnamon Roll Method
Cinnamon Roll Method
Cinnamon Roll Method

So there you have it, one last thing - do people like the methodical photographs? They might be a permanent thing!

11 comments:

  1. this is a wonderful cake. Love your tutorial and photography!

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  2. These loook so good, tbh anything with cinnamon is a guaranteed winner with me! x

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  3. Your cinnamon rolls look delicious. I also love the step by step pictures. Yummy x

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  4. @Naomi - cinnamon and sugar together is just....i dont even know. Thanks for ze comment !
    @miss flash - I'm glad you like the pics! this gives me motivation to make it a permanent fixture with recipes! thanks! x

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  5. Oh my god I love the look of these! I've always fancied trying my hand at cinnamon rolls. Love your step by step pictures too. I don't know how folk manage to to do them, I just know I would end up destroying my camera, probably getting flour and grease getting stuck in the lens.

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  6. Thank you Jo! honestly, its not difficult in the slightest, i actually had loads of fun making these, you should deffp give it a go! and as for the camera, give yourself a 3 second time limit to take a pic lol

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  7. I was away to make these and I notice you have not said when to add in the yeast, is it at the same time as the flour?

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  8. Add the yeast in with the first lot of flour, after you have let the mixture cool to room temp

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  9. Sorry I meant add the yeast, let it sit on the lukewarm mixture for a minute before adding the flour!
    Hope this helps x

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  10. Thanks Emine. We had added it with the flour, oops! However they turned out delicious. We used half the dough to make the recipe as you did it and the other half to make a version of Monkey bread, both were delicious.

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  11. Sorry for the confusion! As long as the yeast was added and proved for long enough it doesn't matter. I'm glad you enjoyed th recipe! Would be great to see some pictures of the two !

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